What is a cohabitation agreement?

Most individuals know about prenuptial agreements. Prenuptial agreements are contracts parties enter into prior to marriage to ensure for various contingencies should the parties’ marriage later end in divorce. Postnuptial agreements can similarly be entered after parties have gotten married to deal with these same matters.

What about situations where parties are going to be living together, but do not plan on getting married? Is there anything they can do to protect their rights as it relates to the property and debt that they may accumulate while residing together if they later separate.

The reality is this is where cohabitation agreements can come into play. Just like with any other legal contract, parties can enter into a cohabitation agreement to address various contingencies that may come into play should they later separate.

This can be particularly important if the parties are going to jointly title assets. Take instances where parties might decide to jointly title a home, cars, bank accounts and other assets. In the instance that they separate, a cohabitation agreement can help address how these assets would be divided upon separation.

Litigating a partition action can be expensive and time-consuming much like a divorce. On the other hand, having a cohabitation agreement can help ensure that if there is a breakup, that it can stand a greater chance of taking place amicably.